DeafHope executive director Julie Rems-Smario looks for every possible opportunity to reach out to deaf women and children who may be victims of abuse.

The dynamic Castro Valley woman sends brochures, visits shelters and hosts events, and later this month, she’ll try an even broader approach: acting in a play. Several deaf Bay Area and national women will perform in the acclaimed “Vagina Monologues” on Sunday in Berkeley. Proceeds will benefit DeafHope.

The show also will be valuable for a hearing audience, Rems-Smario said, because talented translators are involved.

“This show is for everyone,” she said through an interpreter. “These are topics that need attention. Many women don’t talk about what it means to be a woman. My mother didn’t, and my grandmother didn’t, and for some time, I didn’t. We should talk about our bodies without being embarrassed or ashamed.”

The monologues — which usually are spoken — will be performed in American Sign Language. The play is based on a book by Eve Ensler and has been performed internationally. The characters range from a girl who struggles with newfound womanhood to a woman in her 50s who has been oppressed.

These are core issues in DeafHope, a two-year-old, Hayward-based nonprofit group that strives to end domestic and sexual abuse against women and children in the deaf community. Services include counseling; education; access to an emergency shelter; and advocacy in the legal, health and welfare systems.

Rems-Smario can relate all too well with victims. In college, she was involved for two years with an abusive man.

“The reason I got so involved (with him) is that I didn’t know the red flags of abuse,” she said. “There are things that are not OK.”

The man controlled Rems-Smario and didn’t want her to communicate with anyone. She took a counseling course that gave her perspective on the situation, and she broke up with the abuser, who later stalked her.

Rems-Smario is in an infinitely better spot now. She is married to a very different kind of man — who is also deaf — and they have a happy family. Their hearing son and daughter are fluent in ASL.

Rems-Smario has many responsibilities but still finds time to learn her lines.

“I’m a little nervous,” she said. “But I feel confident because of the group. The scale of the actresses who are involved is amazing. Everyone has a specialty, so it’s interesting to see how they express themselves. We’re all there for the same reason — to help deaf women. That common bond is really exciting and emotional.”

She said she is starting to feel the pressure but is working through it.

“I’m so busy,” she said. “So busy! I’m tired. February is always tough. But ask me again in March, and I’ll say I’m just fine.”

On the eve of the performance, DeafHope will host a dinner, silent raffle, auction and film premiere at the Oakland Zoo snow building. The event will be held from 5 to 10 p.m.

The “Vagina Monologues” will be shown at 6 p.m. Sunday at Berkeley Repertoire Theater. Ticket donations are $25.